Technical Field
This invention is related to the field of semiconductor memories and more specifically to the implementation of memory management systems.
Description of Related Art
Semiconductor memories, such as, for example, Random Access Memory (RAM), are integral to many modern computing devices such as desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, and smartphones, just to name a few. Consumer demand for increased performance and features along with demand for more storage capacity drives the configuration of memories used in these computing devices. For example, volatile or non-volatile memories may be implemented in a computing system such that multiple memory die may be accessed in parallel by a host processor in the system. Such parallel access may increase an amount of data that can be read or written in a given time period, allowing for faster data movement which may increase overall system performance.
In some computing systems, additional processors or peripherals may be included. The additional processors or peripherals, however, may not be capable of accessing a same number of memory die in parallel as the host processor. In such cases, the additional processors or peripherals may use separate independent memory dies. Such a memory configuration may, however, lead to a less efficient usage of a total memory in the system.
A method is desired in which system memory may be used efficiently by processors capable of reading multiple memory die in parallel, and yet shared with processors with limited access to memory die in parallel. Systems and methods for efficient sharing of memory in a parallel arrangement are presented herein.